1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a card issuing apparatus for sequentially issuing cards that have been subjected to a number of processing steps using supplied information, and more particularly to a card issuing apparatus of the above described category that records card information on each card in a number of separate steps while it is being conveyed along a line.
2. Description of the Related Art
These days, a large number of people utilize airports and air transportation, and the number of such people is ever increasing. Where an automated block wicket is installed at the boarding gate of a passenger lounge of an airport for automatic examination of passengers' boarding tickets, a boarding ticket having a magnetic stripe on it is given to every passenger who checks in at the passenger counter. When the passenger inserts this boarding ticket into the automated block wicket, it reads the destination, the flight number, the seat number and other information recorded on the magnetic stripe of the ticket and, if validation is confirmed, the block wicket is automatically opened to admit the passenger.
A conventional card issuing apparatus for issuing boarding tickets with a magnetic stripe operates in the manner as described below. Such a card issuing apparatus normally stores in a stocker a number of ticket cards, which are taken out one by one from the stocker. The ticket card is then placed on the end of a convey path and moved along the convey path by means of a conveying mechanism until it reaches the card issuing slot provided at the other end of the path. Along the convey path, there are arranged a magnetic card reading/writing device, a printer and a plurality of card sensors. These card sensors are designed to detect the positioning of the card as it moves along the convey path and the output signals of the card sensors are utilized for controlling the conveying mechanism, and the magnetic card reading/writing device, as well as the printer. When the card reaches the position for activating the magnetic card reading/writing device, it magnetically writes data corresponding to the boarding information on the magnetic strip which is formed on the back side of the card. As the card moves further along the path and reaches the position for activating the printer, the printer prints data corresponding to the boarding information on the front side of card. The conveying mechanism, the magnetic card reading/writing device and the printer are respectively controlled by first, second and third sub-processors for operation, whereas the first through third sub-processors are controlled by a single main processor for operation.
More specifically, the main processor supplies boarding information to the second and third sub-processors, which information is supplied from the host computer of the airline connected to the main processor via a communication network when the card issuing apparatus is activated, and at the same time sequentially gives the first, the second and the third sub-processors activating instructions. Upon receiving its activating instruction, the first sub-processor instructs the conveying mechanism to move the paper card. Similarly, the second sub-processor, in response to the instruction given to it, converts the boarding information into data for magnetic recording and instructs the magnetic card reading/writing device to write the data on the card and confirm the written data. Finally, upon receiving its instruction, the third sub-processor converts the boarding information into data for printing and instructs the printer to print the data on the card.
Normally a processor with a capacity of 8 bits or so is used for each of the first through third subprocessors as described above, as a small control program is used for the desired control operation. However, such a small capacity processor requires a relatively long period of time for the arithmetic operation to be conducted in order to convert the boarding information into data for magnetic recording or printing. While the time required for issuing a boarding ticket can be reduced to some extent by increasing the moving speed of the card, the data for magnetic writing as well as the data for printing may not be ready if the moving speed of the card is increased too much, without giving due consideration to the time required for arithmetic operation as described above. Consequently, the maximum card moving speed is limited by the speed of the arithmetic operations of the sub-processors involved, thus hindering the satisfactory reduction of the overall time required for issuing a card in a conventional card issuing apparatus.